


A Picture's Worth a 1,000 words, but a Painting is Worth a 1,000 More

by WritingBlock (orphan_account)



Series: QLFC Stories [3]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Bets were made and Dates were had, Dean has a sexual orientation awakening you guys, F/F, F/M, Ginny is sassy, Ginny is scarred for life now, Hermione just wants to go on a date with Luna, I feel like I wrote a RomDram and I am torn between being disgusted or being amazed, I swear this is like one of the best things I've ever written, Language is excessive, M/M, No bagels were harmed in the making of this fic, Seamus was just trying to be a good bro, The words 'Straighter than Snape' are used, This is just fluff with a pinch of angst, breakup warning?, this is my legacy now, via painting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-13
Updated: 2017-10-13
Packaged: 2019-01-16 21:17:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,091
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12350811
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/WritingBlock
Summary: Dean and Ginny have always had their problems. So when they have an argument at breakfast no one is surprised. Except, Dean is very surprised. And happy. So happy that he paints a picture of his roommate and best friend.Huh?





	A Picture's Worth a 1,000 words, but a Painting is Worth a 1,000 More

Dean sighed as Ginny stared longingly after Harry, stopping mid sentence. He frowned down at his plate, propping his head up on a fist as he wondered — once again — if he and Ginny were really meant to be together.

"Yo, Dean!" Seamus' voice broke through his thoughts, and Dean turned to look at his best friend. "Toss me a bagel?!"

"Cream or Jam?" Dean called back grinning, automatically reaching out to grab one of the bagels from the plate in front of him.

"Jam for your main man!" A wink accompanied the sung words and Dean chuckled.

It took no time at all for Dean to slather strawberry jam onto one of the bagel sides before squishing the breakfast bread together and tossing it down the table. Seamus caught it with one hand, taking a small bite before grinning wider.

"Elegant throw! Eight out of ten would catch again, but the throwing needs some work!" Seamus winked. "I actually had to stretch to catch that one!"

Laughter erupted from all sides of the table and Dean looked back down at his plate chuckling. He took a bite of scrambled eggs and looked back up at his girlfriend. Ginny was scowling at him, eyes narrowed and arms crossed.

"I was in the middle of talking with you, Dean. Seamus could've waited, or you could've excused yourself before helping him." Her head tilted dangerously and Dean blinked in confusion. "Did you even hear anything I said, or were you too focused on your boyfriend, sorry, best friend?"

And suddenly, Dean was done.

It had been too much at once — Ginny, Seamus, the noise, his exhaustion — and he snapped. His fuse was finally blown.

"No," Dean started as he stood from the bench. "I hadn't realized you were finished ogling Harry's arse."

Ginny's jaw dropped and Dean shrugged before grabbing his bag from the floor. He started walking away and waved a hand over his shoulder.

"We'll talk later, I have a painting class to get to."

…..

Dean stared at his blank canvas, his focus going in and out as he tried to figure out what mattered the most to him in the Magical World.

"Now remember," Zacharius mocked their previous lesson. "We can paint anything as long as it's important to us…. Even if it's a part of your body."

The red haired Hufflepuff winked across the room as laughter erupted all around. Dean scowled, reaching down into his bag to grab his earmuffs from Herbology. Silence greeted him as the pink fluffs settled over his ears, and Dean got out his paints. He would do what he normally did — start and hope for the best.

He took out his faithful brush, Tulip — a gift from his little sister — and dipped it into his self-cleaning water can. The dark red color he had mixed last week caught his eye from his palette, and with a grin, he set to work. It was easy to lose himself to the familiar task, thinking about anything and everything. As he worked, colors blurred across his vision, blues, reds, blacks, whites, golds, all splashing and dancing across his canvas.

"Are you ready for that talk yet?"

Dean gasped and dropped his brush, whirling around to see Ginny standing in the doorway. A quick glance around the classroom told him that he had once again lost himself in his art — there was no one else in the classroom. He sighed, bending down to pick up his brush and setting it on the small table to his left.

"Yeah, let's get this over with."

Ginny blinked at him before turning her head slightly to look over his shoulder. A bitter laugh left her lips.

"We both knew that this wouldn't work," Ginny stepped forward, "and yet we still tried. I have feelings for Harry; I knew you had feelings for Seamus."

Dean froze.

He what now?

"Thank you for dating me Dean. Goodbye." Ginny pressed a small kiss to his cheek, before giving him a small, sad smile. "The painting is really beautiful."

And then Ginny was gone. It was sort of relieving actually — he hadn't had to say a thing. (It had been one of the reasons he had asked her out in the first place.) But Dean was still confused about one of the things Ginny had stated.

He wasn't in love with Seamus… was he?

Color teased his vision from the corner of his eye, and he turned his head to look. There, resplendent and life-like in his painting, was Seamus. His roommate and best friend was mid-laugh, one arm around his stomach as the other braced himself against his bedpost. His smile was bright and open, eyes crinkled as he stared back at Dean through his painting. He was… beautiful.

"Ah, shit."

**…..**

Dean was laying on his bed when Seamus came in, cheeks red as he laughed at something Ron had just said. Flames kicked at Dean's stomach and he rolled over, burying his face in his pillow.

"I was thinking of playing a game of footie later, Dean," Seamus began as he made his way to his own bed. "Harry and Ron have convinced Hermione to try it out, and Ginny said she'd be there, so you can't give us the 'I can't because my girlfriend wants me somewhere else' excuse."

"Wouldn't be able to give that excuse anyway," Dean muttered, moving to sit up on his bed. "Ginny and I broke up today."

Seamus froze, his shirt still halfway on. Dean let his eyes roam across the expanse of skin, committing it to memory so that he could sketch it later on.

"What? Why?" The shirt was tossed to the floor and Seamus sat on the bed with Dean, leaning against the headboard as he gaped. "How did this even happen? You two looked so happy together the other day."

Dean was definitely not hearing bitterness. Nope. His life wasn't that perfect.

"We both realized that we were using each other to get over another person. I didn't even realize it until Ginny pointed it out," Dean said, tilting his head back to look up at his canopy. "We've been fighting off and on the past month, and I think we were both just really tired with it. Or… at least I was."

Seamus was silent, and when Dean rolled his head to look at him, the teenager — almost a man — was squinting across the room.

"That actually makes sense." Seamus' eyes darted from Dean back to the window he had been staring out of. "But now you have me curious."

Dean tilted his head in confusion. He had thought he'd explained everything perfectly! What else was there for him to explain? Did Seamus actually want a play-by-play of his break up?

"Who is this person you are in love with and didn't realize? Do I know her?"

Dean swallowed, his throat suddenly dry. "You, uh, you wouldn't know them."

His heart was pounding, racing in his chest. Dean was almost sure that it would pop right out and run away. How could he tell his best friend that he was gay for him? What if Seamus was straight? What if he wasn't straight but he didn't return Dean's feelings? It was that thought that punched a hole in Dean. He couldn't breathe. He couldn't brea—

"Dean?" Seamus' voice broke through his thoughts, a hand coming up to rest on Dean's shoulder. Dean stared at him with wide eyes, panic slowly building in his chest again. When Seamus opened his mouth to speak once more, Dean ran from the room and away from Seamus, from heartbreak.

His footsteps were in time with his heartbeat, echoing loudly as he stormed down the stairs. Paintings and people flashed by, voices blurring as concerned friends called out to him. Dean had no idea where he was going until he was staring up into the face of a laughing Seamus.

"What am I going to do?" The words were whispered as he sank to the floor, curling his arms around his knees as he stared at his painting.

"Dean!" The door banged open, accompanying Seamus' shout. Dean cursed inside his head. Why had he followed him!? It made no sense! "Whoa…."

Dean didn't know if he could take much more of this.

"Why did you follow me?"

"What are you talking about?" Seamus walked forward, eyes still locked on the painting. "Ginny told me that you needed to talk to me, so I followed you. Is that a painting of me? It looks amazing! Why is there a painting of me? What was the assignment?"

Dean strangled the whine that was building up in his throat. What was he supposed to say to that? 'Oh, yeah, I was just told to paint the most important thing to me in the magical world and then I ended up painting you! No homo though, bro.' Dean blinked; he might not be able to say that word for word, but he could say something along the lines of it. Nodding to himself, he gathered all of the Gryffindor courage he had in his body and prepared to tell his best friend about his feelings.

"I... We were told we had to paint something important to us. I painted you." Dean took a deep breath and then turned so that he wasn't facing Seamus. "You're my best friend and the most important thing to me, Seamus. I… I love you."

"This is happening," Seamus breathed out, hands coming up to grip his hair. "Holy Merlin, this is actually happening."

And fuck if that didn't hurt Dean.

"A-and I know that you don't feel the same way, and that's okay, but I want you to know that I won't let it affect our friendship. I - "

"This. Is. Not. Happening," Seamus said again, his eyes widening as he stumbled towards one of the stools. "I need to sit down."

"Uh, Seamus? Are you okay?" Dean shuffled towards him a couple steps before stopping. "Seamus?"

"You love me?" The words were squeaked out. "And this isn't a dream?"

Dean frowned, reaching out to pinch Seamus. "Did you feel that?"

"Ow." Seamus blinked, and then a grin stretched across his face. "It's real. This is happening. You, you love me."

Dean winced. "Ye-yeah, I do."

"This is the best day of my life."

Seamus stood up and threw himself at Dean. Dean stumbled back, wrapping his arms instinctively around his friend's body and then collapsed to the floor, grunting at the weight that landed on him. He wheezed, trying to get his breath back as Seamus pushed himself up onto his hands. He had a large smile on his face, and his eyes were sparkling with joy. He was so beautiful, that the air Dean had finally managed to inhale was knocked right back out of him.

"I love you too, you doofus." Seamus was blushing, face ducking down slightly as he spoke. "I have since third year. I just thought you were straighter than Snape."

The two teenagers stared at each other in shock over what Seamus had just said, before bursting into laughter. Seamus was laughing so hard that he fell back onto Dean. Dean didn't care, everything was perfect; he was perfect. Their laughter slowly puttered away, and eventually they were left staring into each other's eyes. Dean reached up a hand, caressing Seamus' cheek softly.

"...beautiful."

And then he was leaning up, his eyes slowly fluttering closed as his lips met Seamus'.

* * *

**_ EXCERPTS that were removed because reasons. _ **

_1._

_"You owe me ten galleons, Hermione." Ginny's voice rang throughout the room, and both boys sprung apart, cursing as they rolled into the various objects. Hermione grinned and slapped a small pouch into the redhead's outstretched hand._

_"That's fine, Luna owes me two dates now."_

_2._

_"Seamus, bro," Dean reached out and grabbed his best friend's hand. "I love you."_

_Seamus blinked before staring down at their interlocked hands._

_"Dean, that's gay bro."_

_3._

_"Harry?" Ginny stumbled through the darkened locker rooms, searching for her crush._

_"Oh, Ron~!" Harry's moan rang out through the room and Ginny blushed hard._

_"You're so beautiful Harry." Ron's mumer caused vomit to raise in her throat. She didn't want to be here anymore._

_4._

_Luna and Hermione stared after Dean's retreating back. "A date says that Dean and Seamus are together by the end of the week." Luna commented, taking a bite of her pudding. Hermione grinned._

_"Two says they're together in the next three days."_


End file.
